Over ten years ago many privacy advocates worried about Alexa as it was a company using a web toolbar in order to determine what users were doing online. Amazon eventually purchased the company and now Alexa has become a trusted provider of internet ranking statistics and other important information. It is interesting that many antivirus packages still classify the Alexa toolbar as spyware.

Google and other web companies have toolbars as well and oftentimes these toolbars are used to track every move users make online. The only difference between these more recent toolbars and the Alexa is that we have now become accustomed to them being on our systems and monitoring us.

One of the latest web privacy issues is deep packet inspection from companies like Sandvine as it lets ISPs and governments see the packets which are being sent and received online.

The Telecom Expense Management (TEM) space is doing well and many predict this segment to not only weather an economic downturn but they think TEM will benefit from potential corporate belt-tightening which will increase focus on expense management in the telecom and wireless spaces.

If you are wondering if this is indeed the case, I am happy to say I have just conducted a podcast interview with Al Subbloie, President, CEO and Founder of Tangoe, Inc. This company is a leader in the TEM market and as such Subbloie's views should prove to be quite illuminating.

He speaks candidly about the market, what you should look for in this space and why you would want to consider working with his company.

He also addresses the wireless market and talks about how RIM's Blackberry and the Apple iPhone have changed the TEM space.

Before you make a purchase decision in the TEM area, be sure to listen to this interview very carefully.

If you want to build a perfect business plan, sometimes it makes sense to look at what has been successful in other markets and apply the same techniques in another space. McDonalds showed the world that a restaurant could become a successful worldwide chain and as such we have many worldwide restaurant chains today. This first successful chain shows the world that it can be done and the followers have an easier time and can even learn from the mistakes of the first.

In communications, we often borrow from the information technology space when looking for successful ideas. There are a few things the tech market has taught us over the years.

You may remember a while back I wrote about Vocaltec selling some of its patents to what appears to be a firm that will become a patent troll. This scenario is becoming more and more common... Companies are now launching businesses based on buying patents and using them to sue others.

In order to combat such companies, Verizon, Cisco, Google, Telefon AB L.M., Ericssson, HP and other companies have joined together to launch Allied Security Trust -- an organization which will acquire patents and subsequently grant member companies nonexclusive rights to use them.

A quarter million dollars or so will grant you access to this exclusive patent club and another $5 million is required to be placed in escrow to help fund future patent purchases.

There are two interesting points here. One is the fact that there are a number of telecom companies in this group and second is the fact that VerizonsuedVonage recently for patent infringement.

Dear Mr. Gates -- I feel I know you well enough to call you Bill. You see, although we have never met, I feel like I owe you a huge debt of gratitude. I started loving technology while playing Pong and Space Invaders and shortly thereafter I became a BASIC programmer. First of all, thanks for ensuring this language was around and simple enough for a person to easily pick up on his own.

It is unclear what the computing industry would be like if it weren't for you and your company. You seem to have had an uncanny way of beating virtually every competitor your company ever had while you were in charge.

I promised yesterday that we would be devoting great focus to ITEXPO this week and to kick things off I want to ensure you are aware of the TMC University courses which will be offered at the show September 16-18, 2008 in Los Angeles. We have been running TMCU sessions for many years and we have had hundreds of graduates who walk away from the event better educated on various topics and if they pass the test at the end of the session(s), they also have the bragging rights of a diploma which can boost their resume value and get them valuable consulting/reseller assignments.

The program has focused on open source, SIP and IP-PBX topics in years past and for the first time we have greatly expanded the number of courses provided to ensure we can help you get certified in multiple courses at once. These are the important areas of the market where the seems to be great interest in certification as well as hiring.

Use that WiFi phone in the car... Good news for those of you who like your WiFi phone but just haven't been able to get it to work properly in the car. Now, you can use a WiFi phone or even take advantage of videoconferencing while driving 70 MPH down the interstate.

This will come courtesy of Chrysler as many of their future cars will have a new entertainment system called uconnect which also has a 3G connection and in-car WiFi connectivity. The good news, we can really be connected wherever we are...